The Work Room Interview: Joseph Keckler on Writing from Life

Interview by Kate Mabus

Kate Mabus: What do you find most challenging about autobiographical writing?

Joseph Keckler: First, unless you are exclusively using found text, cut-up, a raffle drum of verbs and nouns, algorithms, and the I Ching to write, you are typically drawing on experience and filtering it through a certain lens. This is to say that autobiography and fiction exist on a continuum and the challenges are somewhat universal. (If your practice is indeed raffle drum-based, I salute you.)

To your question: meanings and feelings arise at the very mention of some events and individuals in our lives. When we build a story from such events and individuals, we shouldn’t mistake our own feelings for the effects of the story we are constructing. We have to wring those meanings and feelings out of ourselves and work them into the piece; so, in the end, the reader can laugh and cry, while, for you— sorry to say— the thrill is gone.

Structure is another, related challenge, alternately frustrating and enjoyable. If you are writing about a person who fascinates you, you might consider focusing on a single night of adventure you shared with this character (or synthesize several adventures into one) in order to keep your piece lively, focused, and not too static.

KM: How is humor useful for writing about personal experiences?

JK: Humor is stimulating. It opens up a reader or listener to other directions in which you will lead them, or other layers of your story that you’ve hidden beneath the surface. Humor can be used as a Trojan horse or as a simple pleasure in and of itself. And after a dramatic sequence, of course, you may wish to introduce a little comic relief.

Beyond this, viewing your life as absurd requires perspective, which is important in writing, especially in dealing with the personal. In this way, humor establishes authorial credibility. Finally, a funny line requires particular timing and verbal precision, both of which are important in general.

KM: Does an autobiography need to be relatable or relevant to be good?

JK: Thinking about relatability and relevance during a creative process is a trap. Your writing may wither under the tyranny of the familiar.  And in an effort to be trendy, you risk locking yourself into a moment that has already passed. However, you can entertain these questions later in the editing process, and it's likely you will be asked these questions once plans are underway to publish/present. At the outset, though, your internal TV Network Exec, obsessed by the responses of an imaginary audience, can be laid off.